With over a dozen languages and two dozen ethnicities, Guinea appears to be a country which might be characterised by deep divides. We look at seven of Guinea's key statistics to find out.

1958

Image: Paddy Allen, Guardian

In 1958, Guinea's joined the growing list of African countries from Cameroon to Côte d'Ivoire gaining independence from France. The country has continued to wrestle with economic and political issues ever since.

Despite sharing its Portugese name with it's smaller neighbour Guinea Bissau as well as Equatorial Guinea (located in Middle Africa) and Papua New Guinea (north of Australia), the countries share little else. Each gained their independence after Guinea and each did so from different colonial powers - so their languages, traditions and economic successes have taken very different paths.

178th place

Each year, the UN looks at life expectancy at birth, average years of schooling and compares average incomes to the cost of living so that it can calculate a score for each country in the world. The Human Development Index ranks all of those results and shows the gap in quality of life between the world's countries.

Last year, Guinea's population of 11.5 million people had one of the lowest scores in the entire world, coming behind Afghanistan and Ethiopia in 178th place out of 186 countries.

That's partly because life expectancy is so low - just 54 years for men and 56 years for women. Infant mortality is also a problem with 12.6% of children not living to the age of five.

16% mineral rents

Mineral rents are the difference between the value and cost of producing minerals like tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate. In 2011, mineral rents made up 16% of Guinea's GDP - the 7th highest proportion in the world.

That ranking is due largely just one mineral - bauxite - an aluminium ore which Guinea holds in abundance. Though there is the potential to diversify the economy, a lack of infrastructure is holding back the country's agricultural sector. 31% of Guinea's population live on less than $2 a day.

12 killed, 89 wounded

In the space of just three days in May this year, Amnesty International documented 12 Guineans being killed and 89 others wounded during demonstrations that culminated in the Minister of Security being removed from his post.

The incidents are not isolated - Amnesty claims that security forces routinely have impunity about the excessive use of force. In its assessment of the situation in Guinea in 2013, Human Rights Watch said:

a full transition to democratic rule and greater respect for the rule of law were undermined by continued delays in organizing parliamentary elections, rising ethnic tension, endemic corruption, and inadequate gains in strengthening the chronically neglected judiciary

0 change

Reporters without borders press freedom map 2013

Sometimes however, a focus on more flagrant abuses can obscure a more complex story on human rights. This year, Guinea moved 0 places on the international rankings of press freedom, its position however - in 86th place of 179 countries may come as a surprise.

The security situation is often inseparable from basic freedoms as latest news demonstrates - more than 15 journalists were physically attacked during clashes between demonstrators and security forces last month.

41% literacy

Guinean students study under the dim parking lot lights at G'bessi airport in the capital, Conakry. Some 62% of the population says they have no access to electricity. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Guinea has one of the lowest literacy rates in the entire world (only Mali and Chad fare worse) with just 41% of the population aged over 15 able to read and write - a figure which falls to just 30% for the female population. That gap might not close quickly given that there are 85 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary school.

1.3 online

Photograph: Alamy

Just 1.3 of every 100 Guineans are Internet Users - the 7th lowest proportion in the world. 7% of Rwandans use the Internet, 21% of Iranians, 57% of Italians and 82% of Brits